


scent and a sound (i'm lost and i'm found)

by ma-belle-evangelina (starswalkbackward)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: (peter is a werewolf first and foremost but he's also basically a demon), Alternate Universe, Demon Summoning, Hide and Seek, M/M, Paranormal, Steter Week, Steter Week 2020, Tricksters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25563364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starswalkbackward/pseuds/ma-belle-evangelina
Summary: Stiles’ 13-step guide to playing Hide and Seek against the Midnight Wolf.
Relationships: Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 8
Kudos: 55
Collections: Steter Week 2020





	scent and a sound (i'm lost and i'm found)

**Author's Note:**

> Listen y'all. I know I'm notoriously bad at following up on fics but ON GOD I am finishing this one as ya girl is INSPIRED and on a major Steter kick. And the prompts for this year's Steter Week are keeping my crops watered. 
> 
> Also: anyone who trolls the Three Kings subreddit or Creepy Pasta might recognize the Midnight Man Game as the inspiration for this fic. I've tweaked it to suit my needs.

**Step 1: Begin at exactly midnight.**

It’s 11:57 pm and Stiles is fully aware that what he’s about to do is a whole new level of stupid. It’s the sort of boneheaded shit that he’d ream anyone else (i.e. Scott) for suggesting--a plan so far down the line in viability that he’d have to exhaust the alphabet twice over before even considering it.

But he _has_ , is the thing. And not a single Hail Mary he’s thrown--which includes _actual_ Hail Mary’s--has worked. He’s still too damn close to losing the only parent he has left, and he’s officially out of ideas. So by the time Stiles’ watch reads 12:00am, he thinks _here’s goes nothing, you stupid idiot._ He walks up to his own front door, folds himself cross-legged in front of it, shrugs off his backpack, and begins taking out the necessary supplies to summon the Midnight Wolf.

**Step 2: Take care of the light.**

The lights are already off, so Stiles goes straight to lighting the candle. There’s a quick, manic thought that it’s nice of this thing to allow petitioners this much. Scholars may not agree on where all the supernatural creatures and spirits that used to roam the Earth got banished to hundreds of years ago, but the general consensus is that it’s somewhere really dark. So this candle is more for Stiles--who completely lacks werewolf night vision-- than for his opponent.

He stubbornly doesn’t consider what’ll happen if said opponent is the one who blows the candle out.

**Step 3: Reveal yourself.**

Stiles has compared the instructions on five different forums. There’s nothing that indicates that “write your full name” means “write your actual legal name.” And he’s read enough cautionary tales to know that if you’re stupid enough to let a monster cross over, you better not give them the power of knowing your actual name.

That his real name won’t matter if he’s caught is another thing he stubbornly doesn’t consider.

He tears a sheet of paper out of his notebook and writes _Stiles Stilinski_.

**Step 4: Bleed for what you want.**

Underneath his name, he writes: _My dad, Sheriff John Stilinski of Beacon Hills, is dying and I need you to save him. See attached Appendix for what constitutes “save” within the context of this petition._ Stiles then staples another sheet of paper to the first which accounts for every loophole a tricky, supernatural bastard might think of. Because what they’re _not_ about to do is have Stiles win the Sheriff straight out of a bullet-induced coma just to lose him to some bullshit gotcha like “I healed him by turning him into a werewolf so now he’s banished alongside me.” Fuck that noise.

It’s that sort of conviction that allows Stiles to take out a pocket knife and slice his left palm open. He has to breathe deeply through his nose to prevent from gagging at the sight of his own blood, but he manages to let his written request soak crimson without throwing up. So he counts it as the first of what he hopes to be many successes tonight.

He bandages his hand and then places the petition under the candle. By the time the wax has slid down to mix with the blood, Stiles knows it’s time to _really_ start.

**Step 5: Be prepared for what’s coming.**

He’s so hyped up on coffee ( _do not fall asleep_ the instructions had said) and fear that his heart jackrabbits in his chest as he stands up. It thumps rapid fire in time with the knocks he lays against the door. Three times. _Alpha. Beta. Omega._ The world is centuries removed from remembering what the Midnight Wolf’s status was before the Great Banishment, so calling him forth means anticipating any of the three. Stiles hopes to God that he doesn’t have to compete against an alpha tonight--the stories make the Midnight Wolf seem dreadful enough without that added terror bonus. A were whose entire pack was slaughtered by hunters, who escaped the flames that reduced his family to dust but burned long enough to go mad. The Midnight Wolf then hunted down the murderers and destroyed them, removing their organs one by one. But not before tormenting them long into the night using their worst fears. By the time the last of the hunters was dead, the wolf was so fond of the chase that he couldn’t stop killing. Body after body he left in his wake until the druids learned how to exile such monsters from the mortal realm.

Or so the legend goes. Honestly, Stiles wishes the records spent less time on how scary the Midnight Wolf was and more time remembering how to stop him. He’s still not sure if it’s the salt, mountain ash, or silver wire that will keep the were confined to the front entryway, so he sets up a perimeter of all three. The circle is smaller than he would like, but he needs to conserve his supplies to slow the Midnight Wolf down once the game actually starts.

If Stiles' hand shakes as he opens the door, he doesn’t dwell on it. He just hopes he’s fast enough to step out of his circle before his opponent steps in it. Only one way to find out.

**Step 6: Invite him in.**

“Come in, Midnight Wolf” Stiles says, voice hoarse but clear. “By the light of this candle and the oath of my blood, I ask you to enter my home and give chase. I cast myself as the prey you seek in exchange for a boon should I remain uncaught by the time the clock signals the Witching Hour.”

The words sound so silly out loud that once they leave his mouth, Stiles is suddenly sure that it’s all bullshit. Here he is in the quiet of the night spouting some Dungeons & Dragons nonsense hoping a fucking _werewolf_ from an urban legend is gonna come walking through the front door. And you know what? Not a damn thing’s happening. Because if it were that easy to call the supernatural back to Earth, you’d hear about a lot more instances, and so all this means is that he’s wasted time and his dad is still gonna--

Then a gust of wind whips through the previously still air so fast that Stiles barely has time to yelp and scramble backwards out of his protective perimeter. He trips over his feet and falls, ass hitting the ground just as the candle goes out.

And the werewolf from the urban legend doesn’t walk in because suddenly he’s just _there_. Stiles blinks and there’s a whole ass man standing on the welcome mat. He’s just a silhouette in the dark, but Stiles can make out the outline of a trench coat as the man leans down and picks up what’s left of Stiles’ petition.

 _I thought he’d be taller_ , Stiles thinks, half-hysterically, because he and the Midnight Wolf seem to be of a height. Also, if he has to think about how this stupid plan of his is actually in motion, he might have a panic attack and pass the fuck out. So instead? Real talk: the man before him looks so human! He even _sounds_ human because he honest to God snorts when he reaches the Appendix Stiles tacked on to his petition. It’s enough for Stiles’ brain to switch gears from _this is stupid and it won’t work_ to _this_ will _work and will be a lot easier than I thought_.

But then the man looks up, and his eyes glow an eerie, electric blue that sends a shiver down Stiles’ spine. All thoughts of easy victory evaporate just as quickly as they came. These are undeniably the eyes of a monster, and they've got all their focus on the stupid idiot who called them forth.

“You must be Stiles,” the Midnight Wolf says, and even in the darkness Stiles can see the glint of sharp teeth as he smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah I know. Cliffhanger JUST as we're getting started. No worries, I hope to get the next part up as soon as possible. Consider the above just the setting of the scene.
> 
> Feel free to holler at me on tumblr, by the way (teamtonystank.tumblr.com). I might be inclined to reveal some or all of the next steps in Stiles' guide before the next chapter's up. :)


End file.
